1. Compare Ps. cxxxii. 11. Isa. xi. 1. Jer. xxiii 5, and xxxiii. 15. Gen. xii. 3, xxii. 18, xxvi. 4, and xxviii. 14.
2. Lowth's Isaiah, ch. xi. translation and notes, VOL. II.
3. DODDRIDGE.
4. There are, according to the Jews, four angels that surround the throne of God--Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel. The latter they place, conformably with his expression to Zacharias, [Hebrew],before him, orin his presence.
5. The Ethiopic version, instead of "in those days," renders the expression in the thirty-ninth verse of 1st chap. of Luke, "in that day."
6. Selden. Uxor. Heb. lib. ii. cap. 1.
7. This remarkable time cannot be stated with any certainty. The earliest antiquity determines nothing upon the subject. Towards the end of the second, or beginning of the third century only, was this attempted; when those who were most curious in their researches fixed it about the twentieth of May. Clemens Alexandrinus thinks that it was the twenty-eighth year after the battle of Actium; that is, the 41st year of Augustus; but Joseph Scaliger places it in his forty-second year; and, after a most laborious investigation, shows that Christ was born about the autumnal equinox, the latter end of September, or beginning of October. SCALIG. Animad. ad Chron. Euseb. p. 174, et seq.--It was not till the fourth century that this great event was believed to have occurred on the twenty-fifth of December. They have not failed to assign what they deemed important reasons for this decision. As the sun, they say, is then beginning to rise on our hemisphere, and again to approach our pole, it is the proper period to which the rising of the Sun of Righteousness should be referred. The Romans have another reason, deduced from the preceding. At the return of the sun the feast of the Saturnalia was celebrated at Rome. It was thought proper to substitute in the place of this feast, which was distinguished by its profane rejoicings, that of our Saviour's birth, for the purpose of inducing the people to separate joy from riot. It is, however, theevent, and not theday, we celebrate. Comp. SAURIN, Discours Historiques, Critiques, &c. continuez par Beausobre, tom. ix. p. 146-148, 8vo.
8. Compare Lev. xii. 2, 4, 6, 8. Numb. viii. 16, 17. xviii. 15, 16. Five shekels amounted to about twelve shillings and sixpence of our money.
9. "This (wise menfrom the East) is not only an indefinite, but an improper version of the term. It is indefinite, because those called μαγοι were a particular class, party, or profession among the Orientals, as much as Stoics, Peripatetics, and Epicureans were among the Greeks. They originated in Persia, but afterward spread into other countries, particularly into Assyria and Arabia, bordering upon Judea on the East. It is probable that the Magians here mentioned came from Arabia. Now to employ a term for specifying one sect, which may with equal propriety be applied to fifty, of totally different, or even contrary opinions, is surely a vague way of translating. It is also, in the present acceptation of the word, improper. Formerly the termwise mendenoted philosophers, or men of science and erudition: it is hardly ever used so now, unless in burlesque. Some sayMagi; butMagiansis better, as having more the form of an English word." CAMPBELL'S Translation of the Four Gospels, vol. ii.notes.
10.
"Salvete, flores Martyrum,Quos, lusis ipso in limine,Christi insecutor sustulit,Ceu turbo nascentes rosas.
Vos, prima Christi victima,Grex immolatorum tener,Aram ante ipsam, simplices,Palma et coronis luditis."
11. Bishop Horne.
12. Josephus has given an affecting account of this awful death. Vide Joseph. Antiq. lib. xvii. cap. 6. and Bell. Jud. lib. i. cap. 33.
13. So say the Jews, [Hebrew]the passover of women is arbitrary.
14. Misn. Sanhedrin c. v. sec. 4. ap. GILL in loc.
15.At my Father'sεν τοις του πατρος μου Syriac [Hebrew],in domo patris mei. The Armenian version renders the words in the same manner. It has been justly observed that τα του δεινος is a Greek idiom, not only with classical writers, but with the sacred penmen, for denoting the house of such a person.... Campbell.
16. Judg. xi. 12. 2 Sam. xvi. 10. I Kings xvii. 18. 2 Kings iii. 13. and ix. 19.Sept. translation,
17. Blackwall observes, "'Tis the opinion of some learned men, that the holy Jesus, the most tender and dutiful Son that ever was born, when he called his mother plainlywoman, declared against those idolatrous honours which he foresaw would be paid her in latter ages, which is no improbable guess. But in the more plain and unceremonious times it was a title applied to ladies of the greatest quality and merit by people of the greatest humanity and exactness of behaviour. So Cyrus the Great says to the queen of the Armenians, Ἀλλὰ σὺ ᾆ γὺναι: and servants addressed queens and their mistresses in the same language." Blackwall's Sacred Classics, V. ii. p. 206.second edit.
18. These water-pots contained two or threebathsapiece. A bath was about seven gallons and a half.
19. Bishop Hall.
20. Mosheim's Eccl. Hist. vol. i. p. 432. ii. 56, 71.
21. Bossuet, Serm. pour la Fête de la Conception.
22. The bishop of Meux, who has been already quoted, does not fail to suggest some delectable additions to her titles. He speaks in one of his discourses of her "sacred body, the throne of chastity, the temple of incarnate wisdom," &c. but the whole paragraph shall be introduced, though perhaps it had better remain untranslated:--"Le corps sacr de Marie, le trône de la chastité, le temple de la sagesse incarneé, l'organe du Saint-Esprit, et le siége de la vertu du Très-Haut, n'a pas dû demeurer dans le tombeau; et le triomphe de Marie seroit imperfait, s'il s'accomplissoit sans sa sainte chair, qui a été comme la source de sa gloire. Venez done, Vierges de Jésus Christ, chastes épouses du Sauveur des ames, venez admirer les beautés de cette chair virginale, et contempler trois merveilles que la sainte virginité opère sur elle. La sainte virginité la préserve de corruption; et ainsi elle lui conserve l'être: la sainte virginité lui attire une influence céleste, qui la fait ressusciter avant le temps: ainsi elle lui rend la vie: la sainte virginité répand sur elle de toutes parts une lumière divine; et ainsi elle lui donne la gloire. C'est ce qu'il nous faut expliquer par ordre;" and hedoesexplain thesetrois merveillesin a manner well calculated to satisfy every Papist, and to sicken every Protestant. VideSerm. pour l'Assumpt. de la Vierge, P. 2.
23. Quoted by M. Pascal, in the ninth of his "Lettres Provinciales." Consult also "the Life of Melancthon," by the author of this work, chap. iii.
24. Picart, Ceremonies et Coutumes de tous les Peuples da Monde, tom. i.
25. Dr. Johnson
26. Dr. Johnson.
27. Gen. xxxiii. 18, 19, Josh. xxiv. 32. This place was the metropolis of the tribe of Ephraim. It was destroyed by Abimelech, but rebuilt by Jeroboam, who made it the seat of the kingdom of Israel. It was afterward calledNeapolis; and Vespasian or Domitian having established a colony there, it received the Roman appellation ofFlavia Cesarea. Herod gave it the name ofSebaste.
28. It stood two hundred years. JOSEPH. Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 18.
29. JUST. MART. Apol. II.
30. "Living water, ὑδως χων. It may surprise an English reader, unacquainted with the Oriental idiom, that this woman, who appears by the sequel to have totally misunderstood our Lord, did not ask what he meant byliving water, but proceeded on the supposition that she understood him perfectly; and only did not conceive how, without some vessel for drawing and containing that water, he could provide her with it to drink. The truth is, the expression is ambiguous. In the most familiar acceptation,living watermeant no more than running water. In this sense, the water of springs and rivers would be denominatedliving, as that of cisterns and lakes would be calleddead, because motionless. Thus, Gen. xxvi. 19. we are told, that Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. It isliving water,both in the Hebrew and the Greek, as marked on the margin of our Bibles. Thus also Lev. xiv. 5. what is renderedrunning waterin the English Bible, is in both these languagesliving water. Nay, this use was not unknown to the Latins, as may be proved from Virgil and Ovid. In this passage, however, our Lord uses the expression in the more sublime sense of divine teaching, but was mistaken by the woman as using it in the popular acceptation." CAMPBELL'S Trans. of the Four Gospels, vol. ii. p. 518,notes.
31. "It is no unusual practice with the Jews; we often have heard of it. R. Jonathan and R. Jannai were sitting together; there came a certain man, [Hebrew], andkissed the feetof R. Jonathan." Again, "R. Meir stood up, and Bar Chama, [Hebrew],kissed his knees, orfeet. This custom was also used by the Greeks and Romans, among their civilities and in their salutations." GILL in loc. Consult also HARMER'S Observations, vol. ii. chap. 6.
32. ROBINSON.
33. "There is in these denominations no inconsistency. By birth she was ofSyrophenicia, so the country about Tyre and Sidon was denominated, by descent ofCanaan, as most of the Tyrians and Sidonians originally were; and by religion aGreek, according to the Jewish manner of distinguishing between themselves and idolaters. Ever since the Macedonian conquests, Greek became a common name for idolater, or at least one uncircumcised, and was held equivalent to Gentile. Of this we have many examples in Paul's epistles, and in the Acts.Jews and Greeks, Ἑλληνες, are the same withJews and Gentiles" CAMPBELL'S Transl. of the Gospels in loc.notes.
34. The question has been often agitated, whether the possessions of the New Testament are to be ascribed to demoniacal influence, or whether they are so represented in conformity to the popular prejudices of the age, being in reality nothing more than diseases. Surely a distinct existence must be attributed to these, as evil spirits, when we consider their number, the actions particularly ascribed to them, the conversation which they held respecting themselves, the Son of God, and their own destiny, the desires and passions they are represented as manifesting, and various other circumstances of their history. Is it credible, that a merediseaseshould be said to have addressed Christ in such language as the following: "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" Comp. Matt. viii. 29, and the succeeding verses.
35. Bishop Hall.
36. Bishop Hall
37. Doddridge on the Care of the Soul.
38. The whole narrative is contained in the eleventh chapter of John, and this reference in the fifth verse.
39. Three hundred Roman pence, or denarii, amount to aboutnine pounds seven shillings and sixpencesterling.40. Bishop Hall.
41. The farthing was aquadrant, or fourth part of a Romanassis, a coin of similar value with the τεταρτχμοριον of the Greeks, or the fourth part of an obolus (the least Athenian coin,) that is, two brass pieces. These were the same with theprutasof the Jews, two of which make aquardrant.
42. Barrow's Works, vol. i. p. 457, fol.
43. Paley's Moral Philosophy, vol. i. p. 254--257.
44. Sermon on the Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor.
45. Acts xvi. "Philippi was a city of Macedonia near the confines of Thrace. It lies near the sea, as it were at the head of the Archipelago. It was so named from Philip, king' of Macedon, who repaired and enlarged it; but its more ancient name was Dathos. It was also called Crenides from its numerous springs, whence flowed the river mentioned Acts xvi. 13; κρηνη,kreenee, in Greek meaning a spring. Julius Cæsar is said to have planted there a Roman colony; and the neighbourhood of Philippi was the scene of conflict between him and Pompey, and afterward between his assassinators, Brutus and Cassius, and his partizans, Antony and Octavius. It is said still to retain some monuments of its former splendour, although it is much depopulated and sunk to decay." Bevan's Life of the Apostle Paul, p. 367.
46. For information on the subject of proselytes, consult Dr. Gill's "Dissertation concerning the Baptism of Jewish Proselytes," chap. i. in vol. iii, of his Body of Divinity.
47. GREGORY'S Evidences, Doctrines, and Duties of the Christian Religion, vol. ii. pp. 127, 128.
48. Bp. Taylor's Holy Living, Chap. i. sect. 3.
49. The purple die is called in I Maccab. iv. 23,purple of the sea,orsea purple; it being the blood or juice of a turbinated shell-fish, which the Jews call [Hebrew]Chalson; this they speak of as a shell-fish. Hence those words 'Go and learn of theChalson, for all the while it grows, its shell grows with it:' and that purple was died with the blood of it, appears from the following instances:The best fruits in the land, Gen. xliii. 11, are interpreted, the things that are the most famous in the world, as the Chalson,&c.,with whose blood, as the gloss on the passage says, they die purple: and the purple died with this was very valuable, and fetched a good price. The tribe ofZebulonis represented as complaining to God, that he had given to their brethren fields and vineyards, to them mountains and hills; to their brethren lands, to them seas and rivers: to which it is replied, All will stand in need of thee because of Chalson; as it is said, Deut. xxxiii. 19They shall suck of the abundance of the seas; the gloss upon it, interpreting the wordChalsonis, it comes out of the sea to the mountains, and with its blood they die purple, which is sold at a very dear price.... It may be further observed, that the fringes which the Jews wore upon their garments, had on them a riband of blue or purple. Numb. xv. 38, for the word there used is by the Septuagint renderedthe purple, in Numb. iv. 7, and sometimeshyacinth; and the whole fringe was by the Jews called [Hebrew],purple. Hence it is said, 'Does not every one that puts on the purple (i.e. the fringes on his garments) in Jerusalem make men to wonder? and a little after, the former saints or religious men, when they had wove in it (the garment) three parts, they put on it [Hebrew],the purple. And there were persons who traded in these things, and were called, [Hebrew],sellers of purple, as here; that is, for thetzitzith, or fringes for the borders of the garments, on which the riband of blue or purple was put, as the gloss explains it. The Jews were very curious about the colour and the dying of it, that it should be a colour that would hold and not change, and that the riband be died on purpose for that use. Maimonides gives rules for the dying of it, and they were no less careful of whom they bought it; for they say thatthe purplewas not to be bought, but of an approved person, or one that was authorized for that purpose; and a scruple is raised by one, whether he had done right or no in buying it of the family of a doctor deceased. Now, since Lydia might be a Jewess, or, at least, as appears by what follows, was a proselytess of the Jewish religion, this might he her business, to sell the purple for their fringes, and, it may be, the fringes themselves. GILL in loc.
50. Eighth Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
51. Herod. Euterpe.
52. Tacit. de Moribus Germanoram, chap, xviii. xix.
53. Tacit. Hist.
54. Xenophon.
55. Plut. in Solone.
56. DIONYSUS HALICARN. ii. c. 25.
57. Cranz's Greenland.
58. Georgi's Description of the Russian Nations. Weber's Russia.
59. Consult Steller.
60. Weber and Georgi.
61. Clarke's Travels, part i. p. 35, 4to.
62. Thornton's Present State of Turkey, (1807) 4to. p. 376.
63. Collin's Voyages, 1807, p. 152.
64. Peyssonel II. p. 246.
65. Quart. Rev. May, 1811, p. 330.
66. Inquiry into the Origin of Ranks.
67. Voyage en Chine de l'Ambassade Hollandaise, vol. ii. p. 116,et seq.
68. Barrow's China, p. 141, 541.
69. P. Du Halde, vol. i. 278.
70. P, Du Halde, vol. in. p. 211.
71. Barrow's China, p. 145.
72. Ibid. p. 518.
73. Edinburgh Rev. July, 1809, p. 428, 429.
74. It may be proper to observe, that the Hindoos never bury their dead; but if they can afford it, always burn them. If they be too poor, or the person be rendered unclean by some incurable disease, they are either thrown into a river or left on the ground to be devoured.
75. A kind of celestial beings, which are fabled by the Hindoos.
76. it is not generally known, that women, in certain cases, burn themselves with any part of their husbands' effects, as a substitute for him; but on inquiry of my Pundit, whether this be now practised, he assured me it was, and that he had himself seen many instances of it.
77.Shraddha, orPinda, is an offering made to the manes of any deceased person, on an appointed day after his or her death. It consists of rice, and other article, often made into cakes, and is continued annually for seven generations by all his or her descendants, calledSapinda, and in some cases to fourteen generations by all the descendants, who, when beyond the seventh generation, are calledSakoolya.
78. The following law, from the same book, will show how uncleanness for death or birth must be observed in the different casts: viz. If a person die, or if a child be born, theSapindashall be unclean ten days for aBrahmman, twelve for aKshetra, fifteen for aBysha, and one month for aSoodra: during which time they can make no offering to their ancestors or the gods.
79.Dospindaan inferior offering made to the manes.
80. This may happen if her own son be an infant, or very far off, or if she have no son.
81. The Hindoos believe the metemphsychosis, and say that certain diseases, as mahabhead, consumptions, and some others; also dreadful accidents, such as being killed by aBrahmman; and great sin, such as killing a Brahmman, are the fruit of sins committed in a former life.
82. A person with such diseases, accidents, or sins cannot have the rite of burning his body performed till an offering of atonement has been made, which qualifies him for having his obsequies performed; viz.Dahonor burning (in which case the wife may die with him,) and theShraddha, orPinda. This, however, does not gain such on one admission into bliss, which is only done by theSahemaron, or the wife's dying with him.
83. Bap. Period. Accounts, vol. i. No. 6, p. 473-476.
84. Bapt. Period. Accounts, No. xvii. p. 324.
85. Cordiner's Description of Ceylon, vol. ii. p. 16.
86. History of Sumatra, 4to. 1811, p. 257, 381, 382.
87. Vogel, p. 649. Voyages des Hollandois, i. 349.
88. Turnbull's Voyage round the World, p. 6.
89. Turnbull, p. 11.
90. Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. ii. p. 333, 434, 455, 4to. 1815.
91. Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 79,n. and 472,n.
92. Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. i. p. 173,n.
93. Dampier, ii. p. 6. 86. Forster's Voyage, i. p. 212. ii. p. 71. Meiners, vol. i. p. 80.
94. Arvieux, i. p. 229, 230. Meiners, vol. i. p. 96.
95. Lewis and Clark's Travels up the Missouri, p. 33, 34. 4to. 1814.
96. Seventh Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1811, p. 59.
97. Some Account of New Zealand, 1807, p. 13.
98. Maggil's Account of Tunis, p. 92.
99. Jackson's Account of the Empire of Morocco, 4to, 1809, p. 152.
100. Brown's Travels in Africa, &c. 2d ed. 4to. 1806, p. 335, 339.
101. Park's Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa, Sic. 4to. 1799, p. 39.
102. Durand's Voyage to Senegal, p. 104, 105.
103. Park's Travels, p. 157.
104. Park's Travels, p. 226, 267.
105. Park's Travels p. 347.
106. Barrow's Travels in Southern Africa, second edit. 1806, vol. i. p. 159.
107. Barrow's Travels, vol. i. p. 206.
108. Dampier, ii. p. 86.
109. Des Marchais, ii. p. 178.
110. Labat, ii. p. 299. Adanson, p. 32. Oldendorp, i. p. 376.
111. Meiners, i. p. 52--54.
112. Cavazzi, ii. p. 123. Meiners, i. p. 59, 69. See also Rees's Cyclopædie, and Encyclop. Brit, under the word'sAnsiko, Anthropophagi, Batta. Marsden's Hist, of Sumatra, 3d ed. 4to. 1811, p. 390-395, & 463.
113. This subject has been already more than once remarked upon this work. See vol. i. p. 21 and 255.
114. Paley's Mor. Philos. vol. i. p. 3. ch. vi. & vii.
115. Plutarch in Rom. I. p. 123. Livy II. p. 13, 40.